Getting to work

Yesterday, whilst still drinking my morning nescafe, I sat down with Dan, a co-director, to talk about what I need to do. It sounded interesting to work on, in the long run! The first step was gaining some familiarity with the site – I had to read a dissertation. I have to admit, it was the best written dissertation I’ve read, as well as being good content-wise. That took until today, when I started learning the database system and getting into the finds themselves.

I also visited the National Park that the site is in on my run, but I didn’t really visit the ruins – I just found out where they were. It’s very pretty down there, but the dirt roads up the actual excavations are too rocky for my minimalist running shoes.

This afternoon, I finished skimming the dissertation, and got to work on the boxes. Well, actually, I started, realized that I didn’t know what all the abbreviations on the tags stood for, and went to ask for the explanations. I ended up with another file to read, which explained the computer system and the tags. It described the system as “not intuitive” and “not fast.” I’d add “temperamental,” “cumbersome,” “recalcitrant,” and “intransigent.”

I’m impressed with the details of their records, though, once I caught them up! I may not have as much work to do as I thought I did! (Or maybe I just didn’t underestimate the project for a change?). In any case, they apparently already weighed and measured everything, so I might not have to!

One of these days I’ll have to head around Ashkelon with my camera. There are some hysterical signs to be photographed here